Carbon/Carbon Clucth ?

Discussion in 'PSI Superchargers Tech Questions' started by TOL, Sep 27, 2017.

  1. TOL

    TOL Active Member

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    Maybe this is a dumb question, but here goes....

    Why are carbon/carbon clutches not more prevalent in drag racing? Surely it can't just be the cost factor? Excellent thermal stability, high coefficient of friction, low mass, low shear wear, etc. What gives?

    Just wondering.
     
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    Last edited: Sep 27, 2017
  2. jay70cuda

    jay70cuda Well-Known Member

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    #cuztorqueconverter
     
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  3. rb0804

    rb0804 Active Member

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    I think it has to do with the grabiness of the material. We have to slip the clutch to get the car to do what we want which creates heat, which in turn causes the carbon to become more grabby or "work better" the hotter it gets. I helped a guy that ran a FWD Honda some 15 years ago and he had a carbon/carbon clutch in his car, we ran some 8.80's with it and I still to this day don't know how he drove it, torque steer aside. The clutch was so grabby I couldn't get it out of the trailer and into the garage, after stalling it a half dozen times, ended up revving it up and dumping the clutch to get the car moving and coasted into the garage. There are some sintered iron discs that behave in a similar fashion that I got to see 1st hand on a dual disc nitrous car, the discs would get a little temp in them and would lock up hard and not unlock, even if you took a ton of weight off. A "normal" disc in the same scenario would continue to slip in a consistent manor. I think for either of these materials to work in a consistent manor the clutch would have to catch the engine somewhere in the .5s range and rely on either slipping the tire or killing power with timing as the clutch catches the engine. I think this would be pretty tricky to maintain a good tune up track to track and would entail lots of tire shake until you figured it all out. Usually the driver gets tired of the shaking rather quickly.
     
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  4. MaineAlkyFan

    MaineAlkyFan Active Member

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    :D

    Chris Saulnier - Team Tigges
    Mechanic Falls, Maine
     
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